Introduction
I recently started smoking large cuts of meat (eg brisket, pork shoulders, etc) within my trusty 22-year old Webber Kettle Barbecue grill. The finished product has been fantastic and has received rave reviews from my family. Yet, depending on the meat cut and many other complex factors, the “low and slow” method cooking times can span as long as 10 to 15 hours and requires ongoing monitoring and adjustment. During a long cook, I find myself checking the digital thermometers on the grill at least hourly and adjusting the Webber grill vents as necessary to maintain desired cooking performance. Clearly a remote temperature monitor would make monitoring easier and there are a number of commercial models available that do just this, albeit often costly, although perhaps another case illustrating the truism “you get what you pay for”.
While considering buying a commercial monitor, I immediately wondered if I could build a bespoke barbecue temperature monitor that is lower cost yet specifically tailored to have the particular features I’m interested in. Having recently become semi-retired, I’ve used the extra time to begin learning electronics and to pursue other technology / Maker hobbies. This project presents a great learning (or frustration?) opportunity to gain further knowledge across a number of electronics, microprocessor and web technologies.
I fully recognise that this project in itself is nothing new or particularly innovative; the Internet is chocka-block with similar projects, often much more sophisticated and cleverer than what I have in mind. However, rather than just blindly copying another’s project, working up my own version of a hybrid project forces me to learn broadly as well as providing me the opportunity to pick the best ideas and bring them together into my project to meet my personal objectives.
I'm taking the time to thoroughly document my work as I find it helps me retain what I leaned plus it becomes a useful reference to refer back to. Perhaps this project description will also be helpful to someone else.
The downside is that being inexperienced means that “you don’t know what you don’t know”. These "unknown unknowns" are a major obstacle and it is quite likely that better solutions may be available that I am simply not yet aware of. I also make lots of mistakes although arguably this is the best way to learn! However, a long journey starts with a single step, so lets get after it!
Postscript: I started this project way back in 2016, worked intermittently on it over the years and I am now only finishing it in 2020! Sorry, life got in the way! As such, it is a bit of a mishmash of technologies as many things changed over this time.
